TWO senators crossed party lines and urged the Filipino people to set aside politics and prioritize the country’s welfare.

Senator Panfilo Lacson and Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon on Thursday said it is “high time” for the country and our people to prioritize the welfare of our country and the Filipinos.

Drilon, a staunch opposition leader, outlined the four most pressing issues that President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. must immediately address, such as an inadequate healthcare system, a pandemic-battered economy, a failing education system, and a weak rule of law.

“President-elect Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. should capitalize on the so-called ‘honeymoon period’ and exercise political will in the first 100 days of his presidency to address these four urgent issues that remain unresolved and define his legislative priorities,” Drilon said in a statement.

“First and foremost, the issue of health. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the weakness and inadequacy of our healthcare system. We lack hospitals. Our health information system is inefficient.

We do not provide sufficient protection and benefits to our healthcare professionals both in the public and private sectors,” Drilon stressed.

“There must be long-term solutions. We must have more hospitals. We must strengthen our Universal Health Care program. We must appoint the right people in PhilHealth as our main health insurance agency,” Drilon said.

“We must not repeat the mistakes of the past,” he said, citing, for instance, the corruption and overpricing controversies that hounded PhilHealth.

The country’s weak healthcare system, coupled with the mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic, put the country in a dire situation, he added.

Drilon also lamented the poor state of the education system in the country, which is made even worse by the pandemic.

Citing an earlier World Bank report that showed that nine out of ten kids aged 10 in the country could not read, Drilon said that a roadmap must be immediately put in place because the effect is long-term if the problems facing the country’s educational system are not addressed immediately.

Last week, the Senate ratified the bicameral report that seeks to establish the “Second Congressional Commission on Education” (EDCOM II) tasked with undertaking a comprehensive evaluation of the education system.

“There should be a joint executive-legislative educational commission because the solution requires both the action of the executive and the legislative,” Drilon said.

Based on the World Bank study, Drilon said the learning poverty is alarming at 90% in 2020, whereas Indonesia has 35.4%, Malaysia at13.9%, Singapore at 2.8%, Thailand at 23.5%, and Vietnam at 1.7%.

In the report, the Philippines joined Ethiopia at 90.3%, Madagascar at 96.7%, Yemen at 94.7%, and Afghanistan at 93.4% with the worst learning poverty.

“This should worry the next administration. I cannot imagine a future with nine out of ten Filipino children who cannot read,” Drilon said.

The outgoing senator said the incoming president should build a strong economy who can lead the country in our bid to restore the economy.

“The key here is the economic managers. The President-elect must choose a strong and cohesive economic team with a common vision. His team must be able to formulate fiscal policies that will put the economy on a path to recovery,” Drilon said.

“We need not just the best minds but team players. The next economic team must be able to work with the legislation in terms of legislation,” he said.

“The economy is in a very difficult situation. We have a debt of P12.68 trillion as of March. We continuously incur a huge budget deficit because of our inefficient tax collection which is made even worse by the pandemic. Our COVID-19 war chest is dwindling, yet, the pandemic is still within our midst,” Drilon said.

He also cited the high fuel prices due to the ongoing crisis in Ukraine that further caused inflation to rise.

“As I said before, the next president should brace for the heavy impact of the oil crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, high budget deficit, and ballooning debt,” Drilon said.

Lastly, the former justice secretary also called on the incoming president to restore the people’s confidence in the rule of law and the justice system, which, he said, was greatly affected by the so-called “war on drugs” that killed thousands of Filipinos in the past six years.

Drilon said that the rise in the number of extra-judicial killings (EJK), including lawyers and journalists, and red-tagging incidence are symptoms of a weak rule of law.

In the global Rule of Law Index of the World Justice Project (WJP) in 2020, the country’s ranking slipped to its worst since 2010.

The country ranked 102nd among 139 countries in terms of adherence to the rule of law.

For his part, Senator Lacson expressed strong support for President-Elect Marcos, insisting that politics should be set aside, and urged the Filipinos to move on and extend their help to the incoming administration.

Lacson said it is important that the mindset of everyone should be focused on helping this administration propel our country to progress, peace, and development.

The former PNP (Philippine National Police) Chief turned senator also lauded the move of Marcos to strengthen the Philippines’ alliance with countries aiming to preserve peace and stability in the Indo-China region.

Lacson said it is important for the young Marcos to strengthen not only our alliance with the United States but other countries like Australia, European Union (EU), Japan, and Canada, as well as other Asian neighbors, to preserve the peace and stability in the South China Sea and the entire Indo-China region. By Camille P. Balagtas and Marlon Purificacion